“Don’t Leave the House When You’re Drunk” and Other Important Life Advice from Lily Tomlin

During last night’s Screen Actors Guild Awards, comedy legend Lily Tomlin used most of her time on the stage accepting a Lifetime Achievement Award offering up some sage life advice to young actors everywhere. “Ironically, this award makes you feel not that you’ve done so much, but more like you wish you had done so much more to receive an honor such as this. In my defense, I wasted a lot of time being ambitious about the wrong things. When I recall my youth, I can’t even point to a time when I showed promise to be anything but trouble,” Tomlin says. “And now, after 50 years in the business, I find young actors are asking me for sage advice hoping for nuggets of wisdom. So along with telling them to wear sunscreen, I suggest a few other things I think you may find helpful.” Tomlin’s advice is priceless even if you’re not a young actor, particularly “Don’t leave the house when you’re drunk” and her thoughts on failure: “Don’t be anxious about missing an opportunity. Behind every failure is an opportunity someone wishes they had missed.” Check out the full speech above.